 |
|
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters. Please don't sue me.
AN: So, the last chapter's gonna be coming up soon. *sob* I was having so much fun writing this too. Would anyone be interested in a Yu-Gi-Oh/Stargate SG1 fic? 'Cause I was sort of day-dreaming about one, and considering writing it.
----------------------------------------------------
"Yami, I don't like this 'going it alone' idea." Yuugi sat on the bed, his voice starting to take on a whining tone. The Black Magician sat in a corner overlooked by Yami and ignored by Yuugi who seemed to be very creeped out by the appearance of his favorite card in real life.
Yami sighed. Of course Yuugi would be argumentative. What _had_ he been thinking?
"Yuugi, you can't help. End of discussion. I'm sure there's plenty of things for you to do here as well. Your grandfather could probably think of some." Yami walked to the door threateningly. Yuugi gave in.
"Okay, okay, I'll stay. Just don't tell Grandpa I don't have anything to do." Although his Grandpa might have looked to most like a frail old man, he had the power to inflict chores that Yuugi didn't even want to think about.
"Good. Have you seen Bakura around? He has a strong link to the Shadow Realm." 'He could "help" me find the entrances.' Yami smiled ever so slightly to himself. A millennia in a puzzle had turned him rather mean and uncompromising, a trait which Yuugi had been working out of him. Hey, he hardly ever killed people anymore (he just drove them insane instead.) But really, he had been getting much better about his cruel streaks. Still, he wasn't ready to forgive the murderer of his sister. Not now that he had remembered everything that had happened.
Yami stalked out of the room, Yuugi's deck in his hand, the Black Magician on the top. It wasn't, he decided, prudent to wonder the streets walking with a man dressed in tight purple armor and long flowing purple cloth carrying a large purple staff. He looked strange enough as it was.
Yuugi had given him Bakura's address and that was where he was headed. The fact that a thunderstorm was taking place outside was only a minor setback. 'Yeah, and that bolt of lighting that just hit the tree ten meters away is just a small problem.' Although Yami didn't know a lot about physics, he did know that being outside under tall trees in a thunder storm wasn't the brightest idea in the world. Unfortunately his morbid enthusiasm had gotten him far enough out of the city that turning back was not an option. Bakura lived far out of town, not a very social person at the best of times. To get there Yami had to walk through a fairly tree full area with a large steep ravine running down the middle, a strong river cutting a path through the bottom of it.
Another bolt of lighting hit a tree only a few feet away and Yami unconsciously dived away from it, right down a steep slop. His rolling was abruptly cut short when he slammed right into the trunk of a large tree, ribs first. The former Pharaoh found himself hanging over the edge of a sharp drop-off leaning over it from both sides with his middle pressed against the tree trunk. About fifteen feet below him the river rushed, filled to a startling size and depth with the recent rainfall, pounding against what seemed to Yami to be very large rocks. This sort of thing never happened in Ancient Egypt. The tree shook with the strong winds, its branches whipping around the him like switches. Yami was tensing himself to roll away from the dangerous edge when an ominous flash of light struck something behind him. A crash followed almost instantly and his tree cracked and fell towards the water, a burnt and still sizzling tree leaning against it.
Yami gathered his wits enough to know that if he didn't move he would be crushed between the two tree trunks, that of his tree and the one that had just been struck and fallen on his, pushing them both towards the freezing river. Yami swung himself up off of the tree trunk, ribs screaming, as the other one crashed down on it with a resounding crunch. Now to the immediate problem, the river he was about to plunge into.
Yami clung to the top tree as they fell the fifteen feet to the river's surface. Freezing water sprayed up in his face, drenching his already wet hair so that it hung limp like a mop. The wind blew it back out of his face though, which was one thing to be thankful for, he supposed. The trees hit the water with an echoing smack, nearly throwing Yami off like a bucking horse. He managed to stay on top of the tree he had been caught on, crashing down the river on top of it. Another clap of thunder sounded and he turned to see where the lighting would strike. Thus his back was to the upcoming low tree branch and he didn't have time to duck before it caught him hard in the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and his body off his tree.
Yami fell into the freezing river and went under with no breath to hold. The river smashed him into a rock which, while it might have broken some ribs, kept him above the water's surface. He lay on the stone breathing in as constricting a manner as he could, large breaths setting his side on fire.
The tree which had knocked his tree into the river had jammed against the sides a few meters down the river, if he let go of his rock he would be able to crash into it and then pull himself out. Yami took a deep breath and let go, floating with the current but pulling himself back on the rocks so as not to smash the stuffing out of himself when he impacted on the tree. The crash wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be, he caught himself on the tree and hauled his tired body out of the river, lying exhausted on the muddy ground.
Yami's eyes went wide. 'The cards!' He checked the packet at his side and sighed. They were safe in their waterproof pack which he felt it prudent to bring with him on account of the rain.
'Well, this day is just getting better and better. And I _still_ have to seal the Shadow Realm.' Yami trudged on into the distance, where he could see the light of a house.
-----------------------------------------------
Yuugi knocked on Jounouchi's door. It was opened by Jounouchi luckily, because Yuugi had no idea how he would have explained anything to his parents.
"Jou', you've gotta help me get to Bakura's. It's too far to walk in this storm, and I can't drive. If we don't get there Yami's going to do something silly. Well, you know what I mean. But c'mon!" Yuugi grabbed Jounouchi's arm and hauled him out into the rain and down the street.
"Whoa, Yuugi! Incase you're forgetting, I can't drive either, and even if I could you guys swore you'd never get in a car with me behind the wheel, remember?" This was true, when the gang had realized that Jounouchi would be getting his drivers license soon they had also realized the danger of this situation and promptly made a decision. None of them would get in a car with the often crazy teen.
"Well, this is different, and I'm not really tall enough to... Help me out here, okay?"
They stopped in front of the Turtle shop. Behind it was parked Yuugi's grandfather's beat up old pickup, which Yuugi promptly shoved Jounouchi into, and then hopped into the passenger side. He had been quite right, his head hardly came above the dashboard.
Jounouchi turned the keys in the ignition and they took off down the road, staying mainly on the correct side. Mainly. Fortunately there wasn't very much traffic due to the weather.
----------------------------------------------------
A few wrong turns and many close shaves later Yuugi and Jounouchi pulled up in Bakura's driveway. The truck shuddered to a halt and semi-collapsed. Yuugi fell out of his door into the mud. 'Boy, I should have stuck with the pact.' Jounouchi for his part was quite full with himself, after all he _had_ managed to make it all the way to Bakura's without running over or crashing into anything. Near misses didn't count, right?
Walking up the driveway they spotted a very bedraggled Yami, who was making his own way up to the door, albeit crawling.
"Hey, Yami! Get back here! Yo!" Jounouchi wasn't really certain what was going on, but hey, when in doubt shout at Yami. Yami in turn glared and continued on his way doing his slug impersonation as a means of travel. Yuugi and Jounouchi easily overtook him and dragged him to his feet.
"Wow man hey, what happened to you, huh?"
"Jounouchi, if you insist on speaking could you please speak at least semi grammatically?" Yami was too tired to spend time on decoding the strange language of teenagers, it hurt his head. Yuugi frowned.
"Yami, if you insisted on coming, you could at least have at least picked a decent way to travel. No one travels by flood around here." Yuugi looked at the interesting ornament Yami had acquired on his trip through the ravine, main attractions being leaves, branches and a few snails.
Yami glared again and rang the bell, pulling himself up and away from Yuugi and Jounouchi. The door opened and before anyone could move Yami had thrown himself inside and slammed the door closed behind himself, sealing it easily with a little magic. Yuugi and Jounouchi pounded on it helplessly.
Inside Bakura had found himself lying on his back on the carpeted floor staring up at a very dirty and very annoyed Yami.
"Bakura, you are Yuugi's friend, and as such I can't hurt you, but your yami will be punished for his evil deeds of the past, NOW!" Yami held his hand up and magic flowed through the room, pulling Bakurah and Bakura apart, Bakura falling unconscious onto the floor. His evil form stared at Yami. The malicious frown hadn't changed in millennia.
"Bakurah, you will pay for what you did to my sister. And you will open a gate to the Shadow Realm for me, the latter of which you will do now." A flick of his hands and Bakurah was suspended in the air, his neck looking very long and beginning to redden. Yami's puzzle glowed on its chain. Bakurah chocked and coughed, panic beginning to show in his eyes as his face started to loose its colour.
"You will open a door to the Shadow Realm, Bakurah, or you will die."
----------------------------------------------------
Yuugi and Jounouchi, having gotten fed up with banging pointlessly on the door, climbed up towards an upstairs window using a drain pipe for support. Or rather Yuugi stood on Jounouchi's shoulders and tried to climb up the drain pipe while Jounouchi called Honda and Anzu on a very very old cell phone. The calls were cut short, but he was pretty sure they managed to get the message.
Yuugi made it to the window and hung from the sill. He had experienced an unplanned for glitch. The window was locked.
----------------------------------------------------
Bakurah stared at Yami. He knew that Yami would gladly kill him and worry about the consequences later, but he was hoping that Yami's weak aibou and his friend would come and stop the murderous Pharaoh. He waited until he was almost out of breath and then gave up.
"Okay... okay. *cough* I'll open it! I'll *cough* open it!" Yami dropped his hand and Bakurah fell to the floor with a thud.
"Good. Do it." Yami pulled out Yuugi's deck and sat them on the ground next to him. Bakurah, snarling quietly, opened the portal. Yami smiled in his evil cocky way and made a motion with his hand. Bakurah's eyes shot wide as he was lifted into the air again, and floated towards the portal.
"You will pay for the death of my sister, by spending an eternity with the others who are responsible. And since you will never die, you will never be able to be reborn. Your evil will never darken the Earth again." Bakurah was thrown into the portal, screaming.
Yami put his hands to the portal. A crack of black energy hit his hand, shocking it hard, but Yami did not let go. The portal started to seal. His magic was stronger now, he had had more opportunities to practice it in the real world. Again through the one portal he was sealing he could feel the others. Through the millennia Yami had been sealed away they had been cracking at their own seal and seeping through. Many were opened again although not as many as there had been the first time. Yami spread his magic to begin sealing all the portals.
-------------------------------------------------
Yuugi, hanging from the window ledge, heard a car driving up, and doors slamming. He could recognize voices, those of Anzu and Honda. His arms were beginning to tire. Suddenly his feet were planted against something solid. He looked down to see Honda standing on Jounouchi's shoulders under his feet. He handed up a large stick.
"Here Yuugi, break the window. I'm sure Bakura won't mind." Yuugi took the branch and swung blindly at the window which shattered. He ran the branch along the edge of the window frame, knocking off the pieces of glass which hadn't gone flying and pulled himself up into the room. It turned out to be a small room with bookshelves and a computer.
Anzu looked up. She wouldn't stand in the rain, and she couldn't let Yuugi go in after Yami alone, although she had no idea what Yami was doing in there to warrant a rescue party. She marched up to Jounouchi who was supporting Honda on his shoulders and spoke loudly so that both he and Honda could hear.
"I'm going up there, and if either of you looks up you'll regret it for the rest of your lives. Is that quite clear?" Anzu was wearing a skirt. Both Jounouchi and Honda nodded rapidly and Jounouchi gave her a leg up onto the outside of his shoulder, grabbing onto the house to hold himself upright. Honda reached an arm down and did the same, boosting Anzu up onto his shoulders where she promptly put a foot on his head just to ensure that he wouldn't be looking up. She then pushed off and pulled herself into the room. Honda fell off Jounouchi's shoulders and they both fell backwards into a large puddle. Yuugi and Anzu ran downstairs.
There they found Bakura lying unconscious on the floor and Yami holding his hands up against what seemed to be a very dark disc of shadows and black electricity. From the bottom up a golden light was beginning to form over the dark energy. Yami did not look at them, but instead kept his focus on the object in front of him. Anzu threw the door open, admitting a soaked Jounouchi and Honda.
Yami closed his eyes. The Black Magician and Black Magician's Girl appeared next to him and stood between him and his friends.
"You cannot interfere with the master's work. You should leave, there is nothing you can to do help." They raised their staves to form a cross, blocking the way. Yuugi tried to press through but they did not move.
"You should go, young master. It could be dangerous here." With a nod from the Black Magician, his female counterpart pushed them out towards the door. The Black Magician returned to Yami's side to help his first master. Even their combined magic was no match for the magic of an entire dimension. Yami sighed and called the other cards. Again they dispersed to the other portals and began to seal the exits. 'This is turning into a replay of the past.' He slid to the floor, watching as the Black Magician continued his work. A familiar pain returned to his chest, and it wasn't caused by the injured ribs.
Yuugi and the others watched as Yami sank to the floor, breathing hard. Jounouchi pounded a fist into his palm. Anzu tried to push past the Black Magician's Girl with little success. In despair she yelled at Yami (following Jounouchi's idea perhaps.)
"You stubborn kid, let us help you or... or," after all, what could you threaten a once-dead-now-reincarnated Pharaoh with magical powers with? "I'll kill you! I'll let Yuugi at you with his frying pan! Please!" She broke down in tears.
Yami looked up, his vision hazy. Anzu was crying and screaming at him. She rarely let herself all out yell at someone. That was why he protected her, she wouldn't stand up for herself. Only others.
----------------------------------------------------
"Hey Yuugi! How're you?" Cheerful as always, Anzu waltzed up to Yuugi, grinning brightly. He smiled back shyly.
"I'm fine, Anzu. ... How are you today?"
Yami sighed in the puzzle. His aibou did not seem to be able to hold an intelligent conversation with this friend of his, Anzu. He didn't know her very well but she seemed nice. Yuugi certainly seemed to think so. The school day was over, Yuugi had just finished P.E. They were walking home, as both of them lived in the same direction, when a tall boy with amazingly good looks, at least that was what all the girls in school seemed to think, stepped out into their path. The boy was called Lance, and had transferred from America as his shortly cut fluffy blond hair and deep blue eyes might have suggested. He purposely bumped into Anzu, who tripped and fell. He caught her easily, and then helped her retrieve her fallen books. Yuugi bent to help to but Lance surreptitiously elbowed him so that he fell backwards. By the time he had gotten up Anzu and Lance had picked themselves up and the latter was apparently asking the former to take a walk with him and get ice cream. Yuugi scrambled up and stood off to the side politely. Anzu looked at him.
"I'm sorry Lance, but I'm walking home with Yuugi. Maybe another time." She turned to go. Anzu did not particularly like Lance, and she had seen him trip both herself and Yuugi. They turned to go, but Lance wasn't giving up that easily.
"C'mon, Anzu, it'll be fun. Besides, wouldn't you rather be with a popular guy like me than that little runt over there?" Lance flexed a bicep and smiling charmingly. Anzu steamed.
"Yuugi is NOT a runt! He happens to be one of my best friends. I am walking home with him, and not with you. And you can call me Ms. Mazaki. Good day." She turned coldly and put a hand on Yuugi's shoulder.
"Let's go Yuugi. Maybe we can do our homework together. I've been having problems with algebra..."
Lance stood in the middle of the sidewalk and fumed. He had been turned down. Because of a little runt kid with funny hair he had lost a date with one of the cutest girls in his grade. This was _not_ going to happen. He ran after them, planting himself in front of Anzu.
"You can't get rid of me that easily. I asked you out with me, and with ME you will go." He grabbed her arm and dragged her away, smacking Yuugi in the chest and sending him into a tree. Anzu screamed.
"You jerk! Let go! Yuugi? Yuugi, are you okay?" She struggled in his grip, kicking at his shins. A stray arm connected with his face, scratching it all the way across with a set off very sharply manicured nails. Lance bellowed.
"You little..." He formed a fist with one hand. "Nobody, but nobody does this to Lance!"
The millennium puzzle glowed. The fist was thrown, straight at Anzu. But it impacted with someone else before it got to her. Yami. He was sent flying backwards, catching Anzu with him and taking them both back onto the pavement. Yami struggled to breath, having had the wind knocked out of him by a fist hard enough to crumple metal. He propped himself up on hands and knees, wheezing for a minute. Anzu held his shoulders, shouting alternatively in his ear, asking if he was alright, and at Lance, (threatening to kill him) who stood staring at the new obstacle in his way.
Not one to be deterred by odd kids with even odder hair, he returned and grabbed Anzu by the wrist with his right hand. Yami stopped coughing and stood up as if he had never been down. He grabbed Lance's right wrist and squeezed. Lance turned to look at him but only saw Yami's fist which was followed by a swift sharp kick to the gut, courtesy of Anzu. The somewhat deformed eye of Ra appeared on Yami's forehead and he held out his arm with practiced ease. A flash of light and Lance lay dazed on the pavement. Had Anzu not been there he would have done much more but as it was he only dyed Lance's most famous and well cared for feature, his hair, bright green. Irreversibly bright green.
Yuugi returned and they continued to Yuugi's to do their homework. Yami returned to his soul room to make more green dye should it suddenly come into demand, for he had just put Anzu under his protection.
"Call my name, a voice of someone calling
The deep sadness of the darkness
Your white skin sends light in my direction
Without knowing if it was black or white
I wonder if this type of love is behind the times?
For the whole day
We just awaited the coming of morning"
-------------------------------------------------
Jounouchi was standing, face down and hidden behind his mop-like hair. The shadows cast by his hair made it impossible to determine what he was thinking, or feeling.
-------------------------------------------------
Jounouchi, unlike Anzu, did not usually need Yami's help in physical problems. He did need Yami's game strategy, but Yami was sure that was something he would eventually get on his own. And one had to be careful when dealing with Jounouchi, he did not accept help easily. One usually had to disguise it.
Unfortunately, Jounouchi could usually be tricked into playing games with very (very) bad odds. This was generally what Yami had to watch out for, especially when Jounouchi got himself into a game with stakes he couldn't deal with. Like the one he was in now.
An old nemesis transferring in from a different school had immediately recognized Jounouchi, and challenged him to a game of dice. Apparently there was some bad history between Jounouchi and the transfer student as Jounouchi nearly dashed out of the room. The new student seemed to know Jounouchi's weaknesses as well as his friends did, and instantly began insulting Jou', claiming he didn't have the guts to play and was just a scared little animal.
So, now Jounouchi was playing a dice game against this kid, if he won the kid would leave and never bother him again, but if he lost, he'd have to leave himself, and never see his friends again. Honda had alerted Yuugi and Anzu to this, and now they all sat, watching Jounouchi roll his friends and life away. Jounouchi was famously bad at luck games, but somehow his meager luck had held him within catching range of his opponent. Until now. The last turn. He was 11 down, the only way he could win was by getting double sixes. Something even Yuugi could hardly do. Yami watched from inside his soul room. Disappointment hung clearly. In his mind's eye he could already see Jounouchi loosing. The die were cast. Yami switched places with Yuugi and moved to stand behind Anzu and Honda. The eye of Ra glowed.
Double sixes. Jounouchi won. The other kid snarled and jumped over the desk at Jounouchi's throat. Yami tensed, but simultaneously both Jounouchi and Honda's fists came down, grounding the attacker before he had the chance to attack anything. Before anyone could notice Yuugi had returned non the wiser, aware only that Jou' had won (and that now they would have to carry the kid out to the parking lot.) Yami smiled. Another charge.
"Even if you were to break tomorrow
I won't run from this place
It heals the fatigue of my body
Your smile
Lonely heart, feelings beyond my control
It's as if a wide hole has opened
Unable to control myself, I become irritated at something"
-------------------------------------------------
Honda refused to watch. Why was it that his friends were always getting hurt? He always supported the others, even if they didn't notice and had to have his support bashed into them (*cough*Jounouchi*cough*) But in return, his friends stood up for him.
-------------------------------------------------
Yuugi and Honda waited outside of a small toy store for the taller boy's younger brother to finish. Honda refused to be dragged into the kiddy stores his seven year old brother insisted on visiting, but he always stood outside and kept an eye on him. On this occasion Yuugi had tagged along, looking for a present for his Grandpa's birthday. He doubted he would find it in a child's toy store, but with Sugoroku you never knew. A tremor shook the ground, and Yuugi moved to keep his balance. 'A tremor? On a paved road?' He barely had time to process that thought before the ground shook hard, throwing him and Honda to the ground. Around them glass broke and people screamed. Next to him Honda tried to rise to his feet even while the shaking continued.
"Akei!"[1]
Yuugi's eyes widened. The store in front of them was old and run down. An earthquake like this one could level it. And Honda was scrambling into it after his brother. Yuugi followed, ignoring the falling glass and timber. A piece caught him on the back, knocking him down. He bucked it off and continued on.
Yami was shaken up and looked out. Honda had made his way into a decrepit store which seemed to be falling apart as he watched. Yuugi's mind identified the phenomena as an "earthquake". While Yami wasn't really sure about this he did know that both his aibou, his friend and his friend's brother were in trouble. In a flash he had separated himself from Yuugi (it was too dangerous to go in with Yuugi trapped in the puzzle) and was running over the splitting pavement towards the store, glass shattering around him and light posts falling everywhere. The store made a great crashing noise at the timbers in its roof started coming down. Honda grabbed his brother by the arm, pulling him towards himself as a timber fell towards their heads.
Yami dove in, catching them both with his outstretched arms and knocking them to the ground under his body. The timbers rained down, iron, cement and dust everywhere.
The quake stopped, and a smaller one came, shifting the refuse around. It too stopped and Yuugi sat outside on the pavement, staring at the pile of timber and cement that had been the front of the store. Slowly the fallen material began shifting, falling away from where the doorway had been. Yuugi scrambled forwards and began digging frantically. He dug the junk away, slowly revealing a softly glowing light under which he could see the back of Yami's jacket. Slowly Yami began to pull himself up, the light rising with him. He rose completely and turned, showing the glowing eye on his forehead that matched with the glowing blanket which covered Honda and his brother. A shield.
They got Honda and his brother out, and Yami returned to the puzzle. Somehow, he had just managed to pick up another one to look out for.
"'I can't forget that love'
That's what you had said when we first met
Your face hides your true motives
Is there any salvation for me?
Even if you were to break tomorrow
I guess I'd still keep wandering
Loving you, I discovered for the first time
The fear of losing you"
----------------------------------------------------------
And Yuugi was staring at him with those very big eyes, so very much like his own.
-------------------------------------------------------
Yami sat in his soul room listening to Yuugi talking with his Grandpa. They had returned home after another day at school. Yami thought this idea of school was a good one, although none of the children in Yuugi's class (Yuugi included) seemed to agree.
Yuugi closed the door and went to sit on his bed. Then very deliberately he spoke to seemingly no one.
"So, who are you? And where did you come from? And why are you here, and where?"
Yami waited holding his breath, hoping someone else would answer. No one did. He sighed. 'Well, you knew you'd have to meet him sooner or later. Later, in this case.' Yami appeared next to Yuugi in a flash of light. The smaller boy fell backwards, staring at his taller (and, he thought, meaner self.)
"Well, the where answers itself since I am right here next to you. I don't have a name that you would know, you wouldn't know me either so it is not relevant. I came from your puzzle, I was sealed in it a long time ago. I am here to, as your friend Bakura said "guide and protect you", I suppose, which is as good an answer as any. When you're in trouble I come and protect you, it's that simple. That's where magic comes in handy." He threw up his hand and sparkling gold flew everywhere. Yuugi stared, but didn't say anything. He had known there was another person around him for quite a while, he had been there the entire time at the duelist kingdom but he had never introduced himself to Yuugi.
"I'm going to have to call you something, you know. So what do you want to be called?"
Yami cocked his head. He had been expecting Yuugi to order him to leave, or never come out, or ... something. After all, who reacted as a friend to someone who had been living secretly in your most cherished item and taking over your place in the world regularly? 'Apparently Yuugi does.'
"Yami will do. I am your darker side, after all. But notwithstanding that, I will be here if you need me. You only need to call. I've been looking out for you and your friends for a while, Yuugi, and I don't intend to stop now. But maybe you don't either? It's good to have a friend."
"Even if you were to break tomorrow
Even if I should go blind
We'll start walking
In those times, when we were at ease
It's a phantom of you"
-------------------------------------------------------
As one the group walked forwards, pressing past the Dark Magician's Girl with ease.
"Yami, you can't get rid of us that easily. We're your friends, and we don't intend to stop now."
-------------------------------------------------------
AN: Well, I think that's the longest chapter I've ever written! I did manage to get quite a few flash backs in after all, eh? Well, hopefully the next (and possibly last) part will be out soon. (as soon as I write it... ^-^;;;)
Akei - brother (dear)
Once again, the lyrics are from "Ashita Moshi Kimiga Kowaretemo" (If tomorrow you break) I really recommend this song (especially the full version!) Lyrics from: http://www.lava.net/~raistlin/zard/ashitamoshi.html